Regulation and compliance rate as the top business risks in Ernst & Young’s annual business risk report.

Give me a break, survey respondents.

The looming threat of regulatory uncertainty qualifies as a larger risk than access to credit, talent management issues, and the challenge of entering emerging markets. Really?

“Regulation and compliance regained the top spot across the majority of sectors,” reads the press release accompanying the report (something E&Y has been producing for 3 years now, and one of my favorite top-10 lists), “prompted by a general uncertainty in the market place driven by regulatory reform.”

That sounds like a cop-out.

Isn’t this risk more a matter of getting your compliance-management act together? I would bet that that the competitors ahead of you are more concerned about managing risks related to emerging markets, innovation (!), long-term talent issues, and (more immediately) access to credit than they are about what new rules Congress, the SEC, and other bodies may (or may not) enact.

My belly-aching about risk priorities aside, the report remains an insightful risk-management must-read. Plus, E&Y’s Web folks have created an engaging interface. Thankfully, most of the responses are more hopeful, as this passage illustrates:

Across all sectors, a number of innovation-related themes are evident, such as the internationalization of R&D activity. As global companies seek to capitalize on the growth of emerging markets by drawing on an international talent pool, the ability to nurture a culture of innovation in diverse geographies will become increasingly important. ###